Piston slap? Cruze 1.4T

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jblackburn

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj60CIlh-1Y

33,000-ish miles, car is a 2012. It is subjected to lots of cold starts and short-trip driving (always taken easy until engine warms up); taken out on the highway a few times a month for longer trips.

I'm running 10W-30 Pennzoil UP, which I thought would be fine above 0F. Should I be using a thinner oil in these temps, or is this slapping noise just typical hypereutetic piston noise like in the GM 5.3/6.0?

Thanks for any insight!
We have a Highlander (2GR-FE) that is known for piston slapping noise, no matter what oil you use in it - but it seems to me a bit early for the Cruze.
 
Might be piston slap, but it also sounds like a whining power steering pump.

Get some 5w30 in there. Your car does not call for 10w30, there's no reason to use it. I believe this car calls for a Dexos certified oil too. 10w30 might make a dealership void your warranty.
 
No power steering pump - EPS. I think it's the water pump going bad, but it's not dripping (yet), so dealer won't do anything.

You can hear a slight ticking that I think is a piston slap noise. I can hear it better on certain speakers than others.
 
Piston slap sounds like a diesel idling- so yes, I think that's whats going on in the video. Its harmless, though. I didn't hear the 'ticking' and that wouldn't be piston slap anyway.
 
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Piston slap sounds like a diesel idling- so yes, I think that's whats going on in the video. Its harmless, though. I didn't hear the 'ticking' and that wouldn't be piston slap anyway.



Sorry - faint rattle would be a better description, not ticking.

Thanks. Figured it was harmless, but a little annoying that it's starting so early. Didn't hear it til much, much later in my last car's life (started noticing it around 190K).
 
Other video


I was watching some of your other videos and the clicking sounds like injectors in this video. Piston slap will be a deep down knock not at that intensity and normally goes away after about 1 1/2 minutes. On warm and hot days, piston slap can go away altogether.
 
Originally Posted By: Silverado12
Other video


I was watching some of your other videos and the clicking sounds like injectors in this video. Piston slap will be a deep down knock not at that intensity and normally goes away after about 1 1/2 minutes. On warm and hot days, piston slap can go away altogether.


In person, it's a different noise than the injectors altogether - you don't hear them much with the hood down. Though if the hood were up, I bet the injectors would mask out this other sound - they're loud little buggers.

The slapping noise seems to shut up at idle after about a minute, or as quickly as 30 seconds if the car is put in gear and driven to the end of the parking lot. It will not do it at ALL when it is above the teens outside.

The Highlander will do it for 2-3 miles before it stops. It sounds almost exactly like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS7HGv9opEI&feature=youtu.be
(Go to 1:38 or so)
 
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IF its slap you're hearing: ..... I'm curious as to if using a 0w-40 (any at Walmart, for example) would coat the piston skirts and cylinder walls a bit better and close up the clearance just enough to avoid slap.
Decent cold-start performance in a 0w-40, and they are premium oils in that grade. Sure they say use a 0w-30 or 5w-30, but I've never heard of a swithing to a 0w-40 as doing anything detrimental.
 
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Originally Posted By: CrawfishTails
IF its slap you're hearing: ..... I'm curious as to if using a 0w-40 (any at Walmart, for example) would coat the piston skirts and cylinder walls a bit better and close up the clearance just enough to avoid slap.
Decent cold-start performance in a 0w-40, and they are premium oils in that grade. Sure they say use a 0w-30 or 5w-30, but I've never heard of a swithing to a 0w-40 as doing anything detrimental.


I would be curious as well - but that's far enough outside the 5W-30 Dexos-1 specs that I'm not sure I want to try it while I still have a powertrain warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
How do you tell piston slap on a diesel then?


Who cares about piston slap on a diesel? :)
 
Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Probably the turbo has overheated the oil inside it...


Wat.

Yes, I'm aware it normally uses a 5W-30. However, there are reasons I chose a 10W-30 over a 5W-30, mainly for the lower NOACK volatility, reduced # of viscosity additives, and better base stock. The 10W-30 should be fine at these temperatures - or so I would think. There are a number of other cars that run 10W-30 oils down to 0F.
 
10W30 can be ILASC GF5.
Modestly run Engines
may have accumulated carbon/earth metal crust on the piston crowns; many engines are decked 0.0 clear, so a bit of crust can cause interference.
Also, note that timing system chains can slap when cold esp with certain harmonics present due to partially plugged injector (or arcing plug shell) causing moderate cyl-cyl power imbalance - then add in reluctant TCT. That said, Ive been running semi-syn DEXOS in non- GM cars hoping for a higher performance spec.
 
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Originally Posted By: jblackburn


Yes, I'm aware it normally uses a 5W-30. However, there are reasons I chose a 10W-30 over a 5W-30, mainly for the lower NOACK volatility, reduced # of viscosity additives, and better base stock. The 10W-30 should be fine at these temperatures - or so I would think. There are a number of other cars that run 10W-30 oils down to 0F.


So, what you're telling us is that you know more about the engine than the engineers at GM who designed and tested it, and can do a better job in selecting an oil for it in the winter.

Yikes.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
10W30 can be ILASC GF5.
Modestly run Engines
may have accumulated carbon/earth metal crust on the piston crowns; many engines are decked 0.0 clear, so a bit of crust can cause interference.
Also, note that timing system chains can slap when cold esp with certain harmonics present due to partially plugged injector (or arcing plug shell) causing moderate cyl-cyl power imbalance - then add in reluctant TCT. That said, Ive been running semi-syn DEXOS in non- GM cars hoping for a higher performance spec.


Now that's an interesting comment.

From another thread on a Cruze forum:

Quote:
I have also experienced piston slap in my 2011 Eco. I am currently at 30k and in the process of figuring it all out. I currently pulled plugs and tried to take a look at the cylinder bores for scoring or zebra strips, which couldnt actually see anything but what i did notice was a large amount of carbon build up on the outer circumference of the pistons. im talking huge chunks of carbon around the valve reliefs on the intake side. maybe slightly off topic now that i found that issue in search for another. By the way i have read on here about the notorious knock retard that no one has yet to figure out why some cars knock all the time no matter how much timing is pulled or octane of gas is used. well my car is one of those cars. it started around 15k and progressively got worse, and now knocks all the time. Today i poured some carbon cleaner in my cylinders and let it sit all day to try to dissolve that carbon and it seemed to have fixed that knock issue. i will check the pistons tomo to see if there is anything left
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: jblackburn


Yes, I'm aware it normally uses a 5W-30. However, there are reasons I chose a 10W-30 over a 5W-30, mainly for the lower NOACK volatility, reduced # of viscosity additives, and better base stock. The 10W-30 should be fine at these temperatures - or so I would think. There are a number of other cars that run 10W-30 oils down to 0F.


So, what you're telling us is that you know more about the engine than the engineers at GM who designed and tested it, and can do a better job in selecting an oil for it in the winter.

Yikes.
Exactly.

Good luck if you have any warranty claims, especially since you're questioning your car's engine.
 
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
Originally Posted By: jblackburn


Yes, I'm aware it normally uses a 5W-30. However, there are reasons I chose a 10W-30 over a 5W-30, mainly for the lower NOACK volatility, reduced # of viscosity additives, and better base stock. The 10W-30 should be fine at these temperatures - or so I would think. There are a number of other cars that run 10W-30 oils down to 0F.


So, what you're telling us is that you know more about the engine than the engineers at GM who designed and tested it, and can do a better job in selecting an oil for it in the winter.

Yikes.


Would running a 5W-30 for sure eliminate this noise?

I doubt it, but I am willing to try...

The 5W-30 spec is probably more of a blanket statement for operating conditions in ALL of North America though. From -30F on up to 120F. It doesn't get that cold in Virginia.
 
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